Fraudsters from abroad steal Axis cards

MUMBAI: Over the last several years, a number of Axis Bank clients have reported attempting or successfully completing fraudulent transactions with foreign retailers.
According to Axis Bank, the fraudulent transactions on Thursday seemed to be the result of a “BIN attack.” The bank said that there was no sign of a breach and that the sums deducted could be recouped since the frauds were committed using just the most basic card information.

Axis Bank said that there were “very few” complaints, although it could not provide the exact number. The bank said that although it would handle individual concerns, it did not have any special advice for cardholders.

Cybercriminals use a technique called a “BIN attack,” or “Bank Identification Number attack,” to try to create a legitimate credit card number by methodically attempting various card number combinations. A credit or debit card number’s BIN, or bank or financial institution’s issuing bank, is represented by the first six digits.

Sanjeev Moghe, president of Axis Bank and head of cards and payments, told TOI: “We have seen a few transactions hitting our system, impacting just a few cards. This is a deliberate effort by select businesses. We have reported these merchants to the organisations and taken the appropriate action to stop them. Our clients have the right to file a chargeback and are completely recoupable since these are international e-commerce transactions that are not verified by the two-factor authentication procedure. We’ll collaborate with our clients on this and make sure they don’t suffer,” Moghe said.